Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c39.22

v6.c39.22

In the *Uttarādhyayana-sūtra* the number of arts is limited to seventy-two, but they are not specified anywhere in the text. The context also demands a different reading for the expression *nī-i-kovi-e*,² as suggested in a similar context by the expression *bahu-kalpa-koṭyaḥ* (many millions of years) in the *Lalita-vistara*, in order to give a sense of the time or the close application of the mind required in learning the seventy-two arts. But what is really important is the fact that almost all the necessary circumstances under which the arts can be cultivated are more perfectly clear in this text. It is stated that ‘the student of arts must be in the full bloom of his youth and must have a fine figure (*surūpa*) and good looks (*priyadarśana*) himself; he must be united with a charming (*rūpavatī*) and beloved (*priyā*) wife, who should be the personified beauty (*rūpiṇī*) to keep him constantly amused and refreshed; and lastly, he must have a beautiful palace (*prāsāda*) to live in.’ In other words, a student of arts should be surrounded with all beautiful things both internally and externally; he should live in an atmosphere of beauty and youth; all his sense organs must be in a state to appreciate and enjoy; the eyes to see pretty things, the ears to hear pleasant sounds, the nose to smell fragrance, the tongue to taste sweet things, the skin to touch delicately soft objects, and, above all, the mind to think, to feel, and to will the beauties of arts.